Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Sunset Lilies
by oninn
Summary: Tsugumi Rei was living a normal life without getting directly involved on anything Magic-related... Getting caught up with an incident and by accidentally saving a little girl changed his fate for the worst... Without him knowing, this leads to series of events that caused him to become a Course 1 first year student batch 2095 on First High School. (Same timeline with Tatsuya)
1. Prologue

Prologue: Even though he _was_ just an ordinary person-

* * *

"_We will now begin the matriculation ceremony for National Magic University Affiliated First High School."_

Magic.

In ancient times, was defined as an unknown concept to man. Some said that it was an ability to reproduce what science cannot, defy what we people call logic and deny every impossibilities of the world itself. It was just a baseless speculation of the viewer himself, believing that if there's a miracle in this merciless world, it would be that kind of thing. A simple yet beautiful product of legends and fairy tales.

But now, it has become a technology of reality. The first verifiable record dates back to AD1999. Back then, police officers with special powers stopped a nuclear act of terrorism in order to stop a fanatic group of people, whose goal was to fulfill the prophecy of the extinction of men.

The story of that was so famous that even a child with no aptitude on magic knew the epic tale of these heroes.

"_Next, the newly-enrolled students' address. Representative of the incoming class, Shiba Miyuki."_

Even a child with zero Magic potential.

No matter what, a human without magic prowess will never be able to use a single magic spell in his life. Even before his last breath, he shouldn't be able to wield those so-called Magic nor will he be able to become one of those Magic Technicians. In order to become a Magic Technician or simply "Magician", he must have an ability to at least sense Psion waves or activate Magic Sequences. The boy didn't understand why he wasn't born with an unusual ability that they termed as "Supernatural Power".

So, why?

Why is he now sitting in the most distant part from the stage of the auditorium with people of the same age as him clapping their hands?

The speech of the representative of their batch was finally finished. By no means that the event happening in front of him was unnatural for a freshman in High School. Many people here was as excited as their exultant parents, since this school was one of the most prestigious Magic High School in the country. He's wearing a tight blazer, with an eight-petaled flower design of the High School's emblem embed on his chest. Without a doubt, he was designated as a Course 1 student for this High School.

On these nine Magic High Schools, apparently different from the others, the First to Third schools have a fixed quota of two hundred students per year that was divided into two courses, Course 1 and Course 2. In terms of curriculum, these courses are fundamentally the same, except that the Course 1 students have the monopoly on the availability of instructors. But for the past few years, discrimination took place from within. Separating Course 1 students, whose sitting closer to the stage, first half from the front while the Course 2 students occupies the remaining space on the rear making the young man as the sole "Bloom" surrounded by the "Weeds". Of course, the ugly term "Weed" refer to the emblem-less Course 2 students.

The beautiful girl, the representative of their year, Shiba Miyuki graciously smiled, bewitching everyone on the auditorium... Except for him, who was still dumbfounded because of his current situation.

The answer was simple.

He was accepted as a freshman in First High even though _he_-


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Enrollment chapter I

* * *

"There must be some kind of mistake!

I... There's no way that this is possible!"

The annoyed student did not bother to mind the probing gazes of the other instructors as he raised his voice inside the faculty area.

"Now, now, you can't do that, Tsugumi-kun."

Pacifying the young man's anger was, of course, not her only intention. The young and beautiful teacher, namely Kuriyama Saotome, smiled bitterly as she picked up her mobile terminal and fiddled it with gentle gestures. Searching for the official file documents in the school's database was a surely annoying but in order to stop the irk of the student in front of her, she had no choice but to do it.

There was a particular school year on which 8th High almost won the High School Competition. The Mirage Bat finals was an outstanding match, the Ice Pillars Break too. The fastest record on Speed Shooting, which still undefeated, was born on that year. The sole reason for that was this woman. Many wondered why she suddenly disappeared, but the true reason why she applied for a teacher's job was the biggest mystery after all.

She still doesn't know the reason why this student directed his irritation at her. Maybe it was probably because that her seat was the nearest among others to the sliding door.

"You know, you mustn't make a scene here if you really want to be heard by the administration. Unfortunately for you, there isn't any anomalies on the system itself. It also said on the official records that you did enroll on this school weeks ago."

_What to do_, the teacher made a troubled face without her noticing that she unintentionally crossed her legs, which made an emphasis on her womanly charms as the stockings gave off a great impression. The anger of the young man indeed was pacified, though it was directed on a wholly different point.

Blushing slightly, he directed his gaze sideways, befitting his image of an innocent High School boy.

"B-But, I never submitted an application or anything. I did remember applying for an ordinary public High School on the same prefecture though."

"I can't really help you with that complaint. No matter what, you are now officially enrolled here as a Course 1 student."

"..."

"...And don't worry! This High School is one of the most prestigious school in Japan! Just finishing your whole three years here guarantee you a bright future."

The young man straighten his back, pondering on what to say next. S_ensei is right_, he thought, but won't easily accept that he's now become a "Magic" student. He can't even wield Magic last week, nor sense Psion and Pushion waves on his own will at that time.

Just because he was involved on that certain incident 2 weeks ago.

Tsugumi Rei bowed firmly, with a mix of apology and disdain included, to the young teacher and quietly to leave the room, thinking that there must be some way to prove that the whole folly was fake.

The young teacher, on the other hand, sighed loudly. Since that was the first time that there was a student protesting about his acceptance on this prestigious First High, energy seemed to escape from her shoulders, adding that the fact that she too, was new here. Many of the instructors directed their line of sight to her direction, as if to sympathize with her misfortune on the first day of her teaching career.

"Seriously… Give me a break… I seriously want Sypiritus now…"

Kuriyama pouted her cheeks and slumped her face on the desk dejectedly as the sound of the preliminary bell rang indicating that the homeroom soon will start.

()()()

"I'm in Class D, huh."

After leaving the faculty area, he immediately acquired his ID card. _It was not like I'm excited to see the faces of my new classmates or anything_, Rei deemed that he must at least follow the regulations set by the school if he wanted to contact the higher-ups.

The school has eight classes for every year, and each class has twenty-five students.

In the first place, the Weeds who were not expected to bloom into flowers were placed in classes E to H, and the Blooms who were expected to bloom into large flowers were never mixed among them. He still haven't slobbered up the whole point of unjust discrimination between Course 1 (Blooms) and Course 2 (Weeds) so he just ignored the gazes of anyone who takes up the courage to look at him (his expression right now is kinda scary).

Already feeling dejected, he forced himself to walk into the direction on which his data terminal pointed. The data for the school entrance ceremony included the location of the venue, and had been sent to all the new students. By using the LPS (Local Positioning System), a standard feature in a mobile terminal, even if a new student didn't read the information board, or remember any of the information, one shouldn't lose one's way.

Arriving at his classroom, he tried to find his designated chair but he had failed to do so. He was expecting that the homeroom would immediately start since he was quite late already due to the fact that he had some appointment on the faculty room earlier.

Save for a few schools who were continuing the old traditions, these days, High Schools did not employ the system of having homeroom teachers.

Administrative circulars did not need to be handed out one by one, and besides, there was not that much extra budget to waste on such human resources, so the circulars were distributed through the terminals that were connected throughout the entire school.

A system of having one terminal for school use assigned to each individual had already been in existence decades ago.

Making an annoyed face, he was about to leave the room when a voice called out to him.

As expected from the voice, it was a girl.

"Umm, are you Tsugumi Rei-san?"

The young man nodded, surprised at this sudden confrontation.

He had never met her nor had he seen her profile before. Assuming that she's on the same class, there's no way that he had known someone since he just received his ID card several minutes ago.

So why is it that this female student asked his identity abruptly?

"I'm sorry for approaching you like this but... Err, I apologize for sitting on your chair earlier.

I was under the impression that we can sit on anywhere we want and it was just that your chair was on the coordinates that I mostly preferred."

Bowing her head slightly was just as mesmerizing as the student representative did earlier, he thought impishly so he copied the act of apologizing and smiled at the girl in front of him.

"No... Don't worry about it."

The girl pointed at the chair located on the front row near the window.

The girl was just at least 10 centimeters below his height, her hair was black as ebony and was braided at the end. _If she would be dressed as a shrine maiden, then it would be a perfect picture_, he quietly confirmed his own preferences nodding to himself.

Her body curves was just right, though her breasts must be below average. _The shy-type I guess, _assessing one's personality based on looks was one of Rei's undesirable hobby. Even sometimes, Rei regretted the fact that he was always indiscriminately predicting the parameters of a person via first impressions.

"Umm..."

"Ah, right. I'm Tsugumi Rei. Nice to meet you."

Before his having unnecessary thoughts, Rei promptly introduced himself to the girl.

"Nice to meet you too. My name is Nanase Shion. It seems that we'll be classmates for the whole year so please let us get along."

Nanase is one of the 18 Assistant Houses in Japan. Their family name originated from Nana (七), which meant "seven", and Se (瀬), which meant "torrent". They specialize on anti-unit warfare, _Herd Control Magic_. On their family, the focused on manipulating hydrogen and oxygen to promptly disable their targets by suffocation, immediately making them unconscious.

Of course, Rei didn't know the details of her family. Behind her petite body, there's a dreaded talent clumped into what they called as Magic that can easily kill anyone in a perimeter of 20 meter radius, regardless of age, sex and nationality.

Having mixed feelings, he returned the greeting with a perfectly deceitful warm smile.

()()()

After the classes had ended, Rei was invited by his male classmates to stay on campus. Somebody stirred up the atmosphere and made a proposal for the immediate inspection of the facilities that was supposed to be open tomorrow. These students seemed don't knew on how to expend their excess energy since the actual start of class on the curriculum is tomorrow.

And as expected, Rei politely refused.

Rei hastily packed his things and immediately walked his way to the station. By the time he reached home, it was 5 o'clock pm.

There was no one to welcome him.

His parents are overseas and his twin little sisters are on the different prefecture.

Of course, his parent's work have no direct relation to Magic nor the middle school his sisters attend to.

Normally, he too should have attended a normal high school.

He returned to his room, and took off his uniform first.

Removing the high-class uniform on his body, he felt a little lighter, which seemed like the whole act of wearing such uniform was just to gather everyone's attention. Thankfully, his features doesn't stand out and he's always made sure not to become an eye-catching individual… At least, that's what he currently thinks.

Rei remembered the unbelievable image of the girl who stood in front of everyone in the auditorium.

She was truly breathtakingly beautiful. _It's almost like a cheat, to have the looks and brains altogether,_ he lamented bashfully. He had never seen someone so perfect in his life.

By no means that his facial features are bad. His trademark beautiful and large eyes are something to be envied. His somehow pointed nose complimented his manly looks just fine. Overall, he's a guy worthy to become a model. He had a secret group of admirers on his middle school days, though he didn't have a slightest idea that a group like that existed just for him. He had always thought that he's not that popular.

Rei's academic talent was also outstanding. Even without prioritizing on the lessons, his overall average isn't like your average Joe. He's on his top twenties for academic achiever on his previous school without reviewing daily, proving that he's not just your normal kind of student.

After he finished changing, he hastily dialed a number on his mobile terminal. It was a number that he knew by heart, since registering the name of the owner of this number greatly proves that he already accepted that he was indeed, involved with Magic.

Rei never wanted to become a Magician, nor he wanted to be involved with it.

All he wanted was a normal life, with a normal family, with normal friends.

The sound ringing reverberated through his ears, proving that the person on the other line exists. This made Rei bite his lips.

_Clack._ With a mechanical sound, a voice of a man on his youth invaded the auditory function of his mobile terminal. Judging by the voice, his age was of no different to Rei.

"Oh. Haven't speak with you for a long time."

The voice was ridiculously calm and clear, which is why Rei's annoyance picked up a new whole level.

"Damn. Let me talk to _her!_"

"I'm sorry but _Milady_ is busy right now.

Also, about your admission to First High, congratulations. _Milady_ wanted to personally congratulate you too…"

Detecting a sarcasm tone, Rei gritted his teeth so hard that the sound naturally was transmitted to the person on the other line.

"There's nothing you can do. The _clan_ won't let you do as you please forever. Now that the seal suppressing your Magical power has been removed, you are now an official candidate as a successor of _Milady_."

The person speaking on the other line chuckled silently.

Rei imagines the man snickering, while _she _is there watching from the sideline, sipping her usual flavored tea.

"Don't give me that fuck.

I never wanted to become a magician, nor become a successor for that shit clan of _hers_!"

Rei deemed that continuing the call was pointless, he immediately tap on the screen of his mobile terminal, cutting off the call prematurely. He raised his terminal, intending to throw it against the wall but he realized that venting anger on his belongings wasn't a good thing to practice.

He cursed his own fate.

_I see, that was her doing._

_Kuriyama-sensei said that I'm enrolled at First High was in official documents. _

_I never took any exams involving Magic High Schools, be it practical or paper-related entrance exams._

_In other words, someone manipulated the official records from the inside. The one who manipulated the system must have a powerful influence throughout the country. If they can alter every personal database at the civilian level, they can also fake an enrollment of a worthless guy like me who can't even sense Psion waves several weeks ago._

_But, just because I happen to cast a Convergence-type Systematic magic just like her…_

_The Artificial Magician Plan. Ten years ago… I never wanted to go back to that world… Yet I…_

With the use of Home Automation Robots (HAR), he had customized a command on which when the sensors installed on his house detected his arrival, it will immediately prepare a cup of coffee three minutes after the time it was activated.

The coffee that was absurdly hot minutes ago was now lukewarm thanks to the phone call that he made earlier. Rei still sipped the contents of his cup in a single gulp.

I think it's time for me to personally prepare my own coffee from now on, he thought as he waited for the night to pass on.

()()()

"How's my _angel?_"

The woman asked the youth dressed as a butler with a slight smile. Looking at her won't make anyone think that she was over the age of 40. Her cute lips was extruding an appeal like of a beautiful lady in her mid-20s.

She took the white porcelain teacup near her lips and made a sip.

"It seems that he's getting rowdy as the time goes on."

The butler replied with a straight face. Sitting nonchalantly on the chair in front of him was the beautiful woman.

"As expected, he doesn't like what _we_ did to him, huh."

Saying so, the woman gave a meaningful smile.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Enrollment chapter II

* * *

Different from the majority of his peers, Rei woke up two hours before the appropriate time needed to travel to his new school. By no means he was feeling indifferent about his brand new high school life, what made Rei to properly dress up his track suit was to dutifully continue his daily training regimen.

While jogging comfortably on the side of the road, he retrospect about the past.

Rei remembered the words of his childhood hero, an augmented magician whose purpose was to steel their strength against offensive projectiles and heat-based magic. By that time, we was just a 5 year old brat and the woman was on her prime age of 22.

"Never neglect training, huh…"

Rei first met the woman when he was 4. Having introduced as his personal servant, he didn't felt disgust nor happiness since the woman who presented herself in front of him wore a poker face which didn't bound on the slightest. For him at that time, servants were people who attended the needs of their masters when necessary.

But after a year of spending all of his time with her, they became close without him realizing. The woman's face full of façade gradually lose its paint devoid of emotions. In the depths of his heart, Rei had admired the beautiful and 'new' gentle woman. Of course, he already knew that she was a magician whose sole purpose was to protect someone. He directly heard that from his servant's mouth when he asked about the woman's past.

The child occasionally followed his 'servant' on the training grounds underneath the mansion he was staying. She was always focused on her magic training, but also, her passion for martial arts never once diminished.

Skillfully using her hands and feet to perform swift and vicious attack techniques like on the movies yet retaining her graceful appearance, she was basically full of glitters on the sight of Rei.

Their relationship was that of a friend, though the very fact was that they're of a lord and servant, he thought. Rei believed that their situation would last forever. Still, the woman left his presence after a year and a half in order to work as an SP of the Metropolitan Police Department. His heart broke for this development, but he believed that one day, he would see again his precious friend. Rei haven't been in touch with her since then.

But, not everyone's dream would be realized.

By January 2093, two years ago, he was informed of her death.

She died at Okinawa when it was being invaded by East Asian Federation. He didn't know what of her remains nor where she was buried since every information about her was classified. As expected of his original family, to be able to manipulate information, rumors and data perfectly. He then remembered that she placed her thoughts outside and informed Rei that someday, she wanted to at least choose her death, the location of her passing and the method of her burial.

_That's right, she wanted to be cremated._

While thinking of those, he arrived in front of his home, without him noticing.

He carefully wiped the sweat on his forehead, with self-depreciating smile.

_I'll never forget this promise with her_, he resolved himself that. Now that Rei became an augmented magician similar to her, there were many doubts swimming inside his head, but Rei paid no heed to them.

"Sakurai… Honami-neesan…"

Rei entered his home and swiftly prepared himself to go to school.

()()()

"Ah, that was exhausting…"

"Yeah! So, how about grabbing something at the cafeteria?"

"Sounds good to me."

"That was productive, wasn't it?"

"Yep, I'm aiming to become a Magic Engineer so that was so useful."

The two days after the matriculation ceremony, several girls were busy talking after finishing their tour at the workshop. Being a Course 1 student showed its privileges earlier since they were prioritized on trying the facilities of the school while the Course 2 students just watched from the sidelines all the time. Though by simply watching can gave a student the general idea of how the machine works, actually experiencing the 'hands-on' was always advantageous for the student involved.

To Rei, who wasn't really interested on becoming a Magician in the first place, studying and learning how to use magic was too bothersome. On his case, just memorizing the basic terms hurt his head to an unbelievable level. The analogy 'you can't learn something unless you're interested on it' was perfect for his case.

_I was an idiot for trying_, he lamented. _However, knowing the facts about magic may give me an edge if something unexpected came up like that 'time'._

By that 'time', he meant about the incident that he was involved several weeks ago. Rei saved a child from being abducted coincidentally, though that was just a different story.

Rei considered dropping out after the matriculation ceremony, but he thrashed the idea out of the window promptly since raising a petition to the administration when he already attended the entrance ceremony was too unreasonable. If he really wanted to quit, he shouldn't have presented himself there. Including that he already worn the uniform, everyone will just ridicule his naivety.

The reason for that was he simply couldn't help it.

By the moment Rei wake up, he was already in an unfamiliar room.

Rei didn't panic in the slightest. He was trained and conditioned for something of that degree. What he doesn't understand was why he didn't felt nor noticed someone bringing him to that place. Just the act alone of transporting an unconscious body should have at least gather some unreserved people who can't even mind their own business. After Rei decided to go out to check and confirm his situation, many 'people' wearing similar clothes as him flooded the whole view. He felt somewhat overwhelmed at the sight so he sought geographical advantage of the terrain (where the 'Weeds' were located).

After that, the rest are history.

_Scratch that._ Rei realized his mistake. _The moment I let my guard down brought me to this situation. As expected of them._

He can't let his pride be stained on such a worthless reason so Rei decided to at least finish the term, intentionally failing his subjects without anyone realizing that he tanked it and to transfer out of this school because of that excuse. Intentionally failing his subjects would, of course, demerit his social standing, the fact that it could stain his pride wasn't considered since Rei was just conveniently averting his eyes from reality.

(Grumble)

While his stomach raised its complaint to him, Rei decided to grab some lunch in the cafeteria.

Walking past several unfamiliar faces, Rei spotted the representative of their year, Shiba Miyuki, surrounded by a mob of students. She then breakthrough the whole clump of people and trotted her way to a particular table, muttering the word "Onii-sama".

The one who responded was a guy with a serious face and tight demeanor. He was sitting with a guy on his left and two girls in front of him. The one in front of that guy was wearing glasses.

In this era, it was quite rare to wear glasses.

Since the middle of the twenty-first century, as a consequence of the vision correction procedure becoming widespread, the ailment known as myopia had become a thing of the past.

Unless one was born with a hereditary form of vision abnormality at a serious level or such, one would not need any vision correction tool, and even in the event that one would need it, it was more common for people to affix ten-year long persistently worn contact lenses that were harmless to the body.

The easy-going girl offered her a space, on which Shiba-san gladly accepted but before that, she was introduced to the other guy.

Rei recognized the easy-going girl since he had seen her on the same place he always train, occasionally swinging her sword. She's Chiba Erika. They have undergone the same training so he indiscreetly familiarized himself of the people he's acquainted with.

After being adopted into the Tsugumi family, Rei was introduced to the Chiba family as a disciple.

Of course, learning discipline was mandatory to them. Since Rei had a promise he made to himself, he gladly accepted the dish called 'harsh training' on a silver platter.

Soaked with sweat and blood right after the first week, Rei endured the body strengthening training, hammered the combat techniques to his body efficiently and made a great effort to catch up with the people of the same age.

"_Nice to meet you, I'm Shiba Miyu-"_

"_Shiba-san! Let's go somewhere where there's more room."_

Shiba Miyuki tried to say her name politely but her introduction was cut short by a guy who was in the mob earlier. Her dismayed face was presented for all of the students to see. He's also wearing the same uniform as Rei's. In other words, a 'Bloom'.

"_Oh, no, I would like to sit here and…"_

"_Shiba-san. You shouldn't share a table with a bunch of Weeds."_

Again, the term '_Weeds'_ was used. Rei could only sigh silently, as if mocking him.

_Is there even a point for discrimination now,_ he pampered silently. _Of course not, there's no advantages dwelling on this idiotic point of view._

Rei clenched his fists and decided to pry to the situation, but was stopped by someone pulling the sleeve of his uniform from the rear.

"Don't, Tsugumi-san."

Unexpectedly, Nanase Shion prevented him from interfering.

"You mustn't go and start preaching them. It's not your business so please don't butt into other people's problem.

That guy is Morisaki Shun, from the Morisaki Clan who specialize on their Quick Draw technique."

Rei made a composed face but inside, he blamed himself for deciding to act rashly. He was about to pick a fight with a person he don't even know. Also, basing from the nervous voice of Nanase, he must be a guy a normal student don't want to make an enemy of.

Quick Draw was actually "Quick Activation." This technique was designed with a single goal in mind – how to activate magic as quickly as possible when employing CADs.

Casting Assistant Device – or just simply CAD – is a spell support processor. It's a machine produced by Magical Engineering. CAD incorporates synthetic materials that convert Psion signals into electrical signal, uses the Psion from a magic ritual to produce a collection of electronic magic. It allows the processing of all necessary components for magic in a single moment.

In detail, these devices help accelerate the invocation of magic, as well as stability.

So what happens if you can invoke magic a full second against your opponent?

The answer was clear as day. It was like asking a fight against an opponent wielding a gun while the person himself was unarmed several meters away.

On combat between magicians, a lag-time on activating magic can cause a loss of life. If several decades ago, that can be covered by pure firepower alone but with the use of practical CADs, the fighting prowess of a Magician was now highly rated based on his/her activation time-lag. The shorter the time needed to alter the Eidos, the better.

Rei realized his mistake, nodding at Shion.

"Sorry, that was wrong of me.

Still, I can't accept this kind of treatment to others. It's just our third day of school, yet people here are already spouting ridiculous babbles to their peers."

Shion shakes her head, also spilling her sentiments about the situation of the school.

"Me too. I never wanted to ridicule others because I'm slightly better than them on practical exams."

Interference Strength, Scale of Magic Sequences and Speed.

Magic Power is the combination of the three. At the practical exam in order to rate the upcoming applicants for First High, only these three factors are rated. Other factors such as high Psion and Pushion count are ignored.

Rei didn't exactly knew the protocols of the said exam since he never had the chance to take it nor even if the option precedes, he would never take that as the last resort.

After watching the older brother excused himself out of the scene, Rei also decided to exit the cafeteria out of disgust with himself.

()()()

"Wait, Tsugumi-saaaan!"

Rei decided to go straight to the classroom. While on his way back, Nanase Shion called out to him. He stopped his tracks and looked back to where the voice came from.

After closing the distance between them, she took in massive amount of air order to stabilize her breathing.

"Haa… Finally, I've caught up to you."

Rei was stupefied. Since he didn't know her reason for being hasty, Rei reflexively raise a question why the clumsy-looking girl was acting strange.

"What is it?"

The intonation seemed cold, but it seemed that Nanase Shion was oblivious to this.

"Umm, you haven't eaten yet, right?"

While her face was a beet red, the girl called Nanase Shion continued her words. Maybe that's because she hastily followed him despite having low stamina, Rei thought.

"I was thinking of… Err, maybe you can eat together with us at the rooftop?"

Rei was lost for words.

He never expected to be invited by a girl who's a stranger until yesterday. Rather than feeling confused, he was just plainly surprised.

"…I don't really have a reason to refuse."

Since he didn't have the time to buy food at the cafeteria earlier, his stomach seemed to grumble at fixed intervals, making Rei's mood plummet by certain levels. This proposal was indeed, godsend for him.

_But why would she bother to invite me to have a lunch with her… No, what she said was 'together with us'. Therefore, there's a high chance that we won't eat alone together._

"Is that so? Thanks."

She expressed her gratitude by giving him a slight bow.

Rei knitted his eyebrows, wondering why would she expressed her thanks like that.

For some reason, he doesn't like to act friendly towards the people he would soon be forgetting. Thus, resulting to an overly formal treatment for everyone he had conversed with. Nanase Shion wasn't an exception.

"By the way, Nanase-san…"

"Hmm?"

"Is it possible that it will not be just the two of us there?"

"Wha- …huh?"

Her whole face was painted red, Nanase brought her hands to her face in order to hide her embarrassed expression. She seemed to have realized the meaning of Rei's question.

_For some reason, this girl is so easy to tease._

Rei kept his smile on flashing from his face.

"Nothing really. I was just curious. It doesn't seem like you're the type that will invite a random guy to a date."

"W-What are you s-saying!?"

The concept of date didn't change much from what it was century ago. It still included traditional leisure like watching a movie, eating on a classy restaurant and strolling around in a park. Many couples nowadays spend majority of their free time for these kinds of flirting, that's why Rei thought that aloud which added fuel to the fire.

"Do I look like someone like th-that?"

Shion looked somewhat shocked and flustered, as she reevaluated herself for a moment.

"No, that's just… Sorry."

"I… Sorry too."

_It looks like I've become the bad guy here. _Rei wondered what he should do next so he could apologize for making the girl feel saddened.

The silence made the atmosphere heavy, as both of them stood there without moving an inch for several seconds.

Breaking the stalemate, Rei made a face showing his defeat and scratched the back of his ears.

"Shion-san, shall… we go then?"

With a small smile, her face brighten up and made a swift and cute reply.

"Y-Yeah!"

With that, they walked together towards the rooftop with Rei slightly lagging behind.

()()()

"Ah."

Rei finally realized what's bugging his mind earlier.

_Nevermind eating together with them, I haven't brought any lunch, _he sighed when Rei saw the pouch Nanase Shion was carrying.

For high school students nowadays, preparing and bringing their own lunch was not that popular compared to the fad 100 years earlier since machines that could take care of that tasks efficiently were now existing. Humanoid Home Helper, or simply HAR, was an example of those machines.

"What is it?"

At Shion's fast reaction, Rei calmly exposed his predicament.

"Don't worry, I've made plenty so we can share for it."

Nanase reassured him while curling her lips beautifully.

"Is that so?"

Rei smiled bitterly as he accepted her kind proposal. For starters, students who didn't made something like 'lunch' for themselves preferred going to the school cafeteria in order to buy a light meal like sandwich and juice, otherwise, they ordered heavy packed lunch in order to survive the whole day.

While feeling down, Rei opened the metallic door that supposedly would led them to the rooftop.

The moment the door was opened, pleasant wind grazed his cheek.

"Ah."

The rooftop contained several high-class benches and was neat, and for some reason, the place really popular. Maybe since the newly renovated cafeteria was exquisite similar to a two-star hotel, they prefer to eat there even if they bring their own lunch. But at the moment, there's only one group who resides at this place.

Several meters from Rei, a group soloing the rooftop directed their gaze to him.

The group consisted of all 1-D students, in other words, his classmates. They didn't seem to started lunch and were waiting for someone to arrive.

There were two girls and one guy.

The guy has sharp eyes and looked haughty, his build was that of a typical soldier-type. Comparing to Rei, he should be at least taller than him by 10cm. The woman beside him was a mature-looking beauty, her shoulder-length hair swayed with the wind. Her curves greatly complimented her face, which boosted her womanly charms. Lastly, the girl in front of him was small whose look was that of a cute squirrel, blinked her eyes with innocence.

"We're here…"

The voice came from Rei's back, as Nanase Shion slightly waved her hand as if saying hello.

As what Rei had expected, she already had her friends reserved a spot for them in advance.

"Oh, Shi-chan has arrived."

"Welcome back."

"I didn't have any expectations, but she really did bring him here."

The little girl, the mature woman and the haughty guy muttered.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Enrollment chapter III

* * *

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Tsugumi Rei."

Making his introduction as smooth as possible, Rei slightly bowed his head without breaking his expression.

"Woah, how formal. Anyway, same here. I'm Takahiro Kouta. Call me Kouta if you like."

The man named Takahiro Kouta said while extending his hand to Rei, forming that seemed like a handshake.

_Though his eyes closely resembles a glare, it seems that he's somewhat easy going._ Rei calmly analyzed the man as he shook Takahiro's hand firmly.

"I see. Then, you can call me Rei."

"I'll do that."

Rei let go of his hand and directed his line of sight towards the girl adjacent to Kouta.

"I'm Hassaku Tsukisaki. Nice to meet you. Just Saki is fine."

The mature woman with the shoulder-length hair introduced herself to Rei while smiling. It seemed that she's used to talk with men, based on her tone of voice and high-class mannerisms. She gave off an oujo-sama vibe.

"Err… Umm, I'm- I'm Itsuwa R-Rei… Nice to m-meet you…"

While the little girl with the same given name as Rei nervously introduced herself stuttering, it was the total opposite for the woman named Tuskisaki. Rei can't help but smile wryly since this wasn't the first time that he deal with this kind of behavior. He immediately remembered the white-haired girl that he saved that day.

His impression of them was neutral, though Rei evaluated their group's capability since one of them was related to the upper class of Magic society.

Itsuwa clan is a part of the current Ten Master Clans in Japan. Itsuwa Mio, being the only Strategic-Class Magician in Japan, is the sole reason why the Itsuwa clan still uphold its position as a part of highest eon for entire Japan. Her Magic could theoretically wipe out entire fleets of warship and submarines alike. By making a spherical depression with several kilometers of radius and a kilometer deep within the sea, it could suck up any fleets, or even an island, who planned to wage war against Japan. That's why her [Deep Abyss] was classified as a Strategic-Class Magic.

Even for Rei, who's never interested in magic, knew the name Itsuwa. He watch the news occasionally so Rei was familiar with a clan involved on protecting the security of the Japanese government.

Itsuwa Rei was on the branch family of the main house. Her father was the little brother of the previous head of the Itsuwas. In other words, she was the cousin of _that_ Itsuwa Mio.

As for Hassaku Tsukisaki, even though Rei wasn't familiar with her family name, she was a direct descendant and the next heir of the Hassaku clan.

Hassaku clan was one of the families involved on researching magic which relate to the manipulation of the Four Fundamental Interactions (gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear, weak nuclear). Like the Yatsushiro Clan which is also part of the Ten Master Clans, they bear the name of 'eight' in the name.

The cold gust of wind felt awfully nice to Tsugumi Rei yet conflicting feelings was mixed to his senses as they gave him a warm welcome.

_As I thought, giving an evaluation based on first impression was too much. Still, I can't involve myself with them…_

For him, having friends normally was impossible.

His middle school days was by no means could be categorized as difficult nor easy.

Rei could do what he wanted on the past yet because of the unbearable weight he was carrying on his arms, he couldn't make friends easily. That factor weighing Rei down was a devoid of a _particular_ emotion.

He never expressed himself fully in front of others, limiting his words of exchange to his peers.

Rei must never get too involved with other people.

That was the undeniable _fact_.

Since the experiment he was involved ten years ago had a price.

A _price_ Rei could never reclaim―

"So, what are your specialties on magic?"

Kouta asked while smiling.

On the first glance, the guy named Takahiro Kouta was haughty, aloof and had a bad personality. Being misunderstood as a delinquent should be normal for him as his eyes' glare were too much imposing. But after having a conversation with him, one should re-evaluate his whole impression since he's excluding a different friendly vibe.

_Impressions are a curious thing._

Sometimes first impressions are not permutable regardless of what you do, but other times a single sentence is sufficient to dramatically change an impression you held until this moment.

"Hey, isn't asking someone else that rude? No, that's illegal, right?"

The mature looking woman named Tsukisaki refuted as she slightly tap Kouta's shoulder.

"Ah, right… Ha ha, I forgot."

Looking at them closely, Rei could easily figure out that they are _somewhat_ close.

"Oh yeah, I didn't really expect that you'll bring him here, Shion-san. You surprised me there!"

"Eh? Is that…so?"

"Yup, really."

Nodding his head, Kouta casually stuffed a rice ball into his mouth. The said food came from the newly-opened lunchbox Shion had brought.

Rei smiled slightly at this exchange of words. Even though feeling like somewhat out of place, he accepted the fact that he was currently having a lunch with them.

"Woah, this is good. Nice. Better than the Dinner Server."

Kouta mumbles that to himself and tried to reach for another rice ball using his other hand but was stopped promptly by Tsukisaki's hand chop.

"Kou, that's bad manners."

"Ah, sorry sorry."

Tsukisaki wiped the leftover grain of rice on Kouta's cheek with a flowered-design handkerchief. The gesture looked so refined that one would easily forgot to breathe for a moment.

"Seriously, what can you do without me being around?"

"Yeah, thanks."

Kouta replied with a smile as warm as the sun.

The two of them looked at each other with passionate eyes. For some reason, Rei saw flowers blooming on their background as they emit some lovey-dovey atmosphere. Tsugumi Rei immediately realized their relationship with each other.

_They're going out, I guess. _Nevermind suspecting the two, it was so obvious that anyone who spot them could tell that they hold special feelings toward each other.

"I think that we should just ignore those two… right, Shi-chan?"

"Y-Yeah. Let's do that."

The two innocent girls nod to themselves while blushing slightly.

As for Rei, he ignored them as he begin to munch on the handmade egg sandwich which was passed to him earlier.

()()()

After lunch, they tidy up the place and begin to make preparations to return to the classroom. Rei somewhat felt apologetic since he unexpectedly ate too much of what he had originally planned.

_The pickled riceball was too tasty…_ He remembered the aftertaste without displaying the glee on his face.

After that, they went to return for their class without haste. On the way, Rei spotted an instructor with the name of Tsuzura-sensei, talking with an unfamiliar woman in front of the Magic Geometry preparation room. Every part of her solemn face gave off a stern impression, though with her tall frame and willowy limb, the word 'beauty' suited her just fine.

Tsuzura Kazuo, an instructor responsible for technical skills for Year 2 Class B, was a Magic Geometry instructor for the National Magic University affiliated First High. It was said that he was a prodigy on his career, a distinguished individual who obtained the rank of a professor at a young age.

The woman nodded a few times and then said her regards before leaving the scene shortly. Rei's eye met with her's, but he paid it as of nothing important. After that, the woman went down the stairs as if nothing happened.

"Hmm…"

The sudden leak of voice came from Itsuwa Rei. Shion followed up immediately after like she was expecting it.

"What is it?"

"I did not mean to eavesdrop, but to think they're already discussing about the upcoming Thesis Competition."

Rei wasn't a tad bit interested on the subject, but he decided to listen on their conversation.

"Huh? Isn't it too early for that? That's scheduled to be on between October and November, right?"

"That's right… I wonder what their topic is…"

Rei wondered on why these two newly high school students were well informed about these things.

_Of course. It's because they aren't ordinary high school girls. They ARE also magicians so their choice of topic were about magic._

"Based from what we've heard, their topic could be… Um… something like, Automatic Plasma manipulation by using multiple layers of different High-frequency Vibration Magic, development of a Gravity Control-Type Magic thermonuclear fusion reactor and the application of Nuclear Fission Dispersal Type Magic for energy conversion… Though I'm not entirely sure about that."

Using her eyes to ask Itsuwa, who had nodded slightly in assent, Shion checked her own data terminal for possible information that could be found on her storage device.

Rei silently observed the data streaming from the screen of Shion's terminal as he listened to Itsuwa's reply.

"That's possible… Since those could be theoretically achieved by the use of multiple Compound Magic. It was said that Tsuzura-sensei's specialty was to use Compound Magic on different but precise situations… Also…"

Their conversation continued for a while without them knowing. As for the two in the front who didn't even bothered to hide their flirtatious atmosphere, they didn't mind the irritated gazes of the other people as they walked in the hallway with linked arms. Rei, who's slightly walking behind the four of them followed as he continue to listen about the magic theories the two was discussing.

()()()

By the time they arrive at the classroom, Nanase Shion suddenly realized that she hadn't spoken with Rei from the time they left the rooftop. She immediately approached the said person.

"Tsugumi-san… Umm, sorry for ignoring you up until now…"

"Not really."

At Shion's sudden apology, Rei calmly replied with a decisive answer. Their two expressions were like milk and coffee.

"Just a 'not really'… Tsugumi-san is completely lackadaisical about this."

Likely noticing her mood taking a turn for the worse, Rei quickly add in some comforting excuses that seemed like a justifiable reason.

"I don't really mind. Also, I was listening in to your conversation for a while. That was indeed informative for my part. Thanks."

Shion's euphoric mood swiftly turned to a whole 180 degrees.

"Really!? I'm glad… But next time, please join in on the conversation please. Another mouth stating different opinions are better than nothing, am I correct?"

"…Okay."

_I'm not really informed about high-class and difficult magic, though I knew some because I need it against them._

Satisfied with that answer, Shion's mood had improved and she trotted her way back to her seat.

Rei could only sigh in defeat since he unintentionally got another one who's concerned about his actions.

_I guess I should prepare myself for the near future._ Rei thought as he picked up his data terminal from his desk and starts fiddling with it.

()()()

Later that night, Rei decided to stroll around Shinjuku. The time was 11:30 pm.

During the era of chaos several decades ago, Shinjuku was one of the towns that emerged as a widespread vermiculated ruins. Because of this, public order was on the brink of destruction, adding the fact that many foreigners had destructive activities happening inside the district. To compensate for this, the town was rebuilt with an idea of maximum surveillance for every crag and groove, especially the outskirts. With that, the present populace of this town was quite dense.

Wearing a black jacket with a corporate design and paired with rugged jeans, Rei looked like a delinquent that belonged to a B-grade movie of the early 20th century. He continued to walk on a slow pace, as if observing everyone who happened to walk past him.

_The street was almost devoid of people, as if the shopping district several hours ago was fabricated._

"None here… I guess?"

One would wonder why a young man like Rei would make a decision to stroll around Shinjuku in the middle of the night. For normal teenagers, they should be on their respective rooms of their houses, either be sleeping or else, studying. Others may have some sort of a hobby or past time, but Rei was doing what could be considered as dangerous. Even if the current Shinjuku was like a den for chained beasts compared to the past, if it was approached anyway, one should be cautious like their life depended on it.

*batan* *batan*

A sound similar to an irregular beat that suddenly reverberated through the air seemed awfully familiar to Rei.

He approached the said sound. Walking slowly towards it, what displayed in Rei's eyes was a man getting beaten up helplessly by teenagers.

The group consisted of three guys. Comparing them to Rei, whose height was average based on his age, the smallest guy there was at least six centimeters taller than Rei. The others also had a larger frame than him.

The man, positioned like he's on seiza, yelped as he protected his head with his arms, while his body was getting plummeted by the three continuously. Soon, one of the guys got bored of the current situation and revealed a sharp-looking object that resembled a knife. It was a sloppy improvised cutter, which looked like it was made out of boredom.

The other two stopped their movements, as if understanding and agreeing at the decision of the guy with the knife. The smallest guy reached out on a plastic bag on the ground, took out two cans of beverages and passed the other can to the idle guy.

The one with the knife slowly approached the man like a panther dealing the finishing blow to a zebra in the eyes of Rei.

The teary-eyed man begs for his life pathetically, almost ready to lick the shoes of the carnivorous beast.

Getting fed up with the ridiculous scene in front of him, Rei decided to intervene immediately.

"Hey, isn't that enough?"

Like a naughty kid that was caught by his parents, the shoulders of the guy with the knife shook with surprise. His companions was also alarmed by his sudden appearance.

"Who's there!?"

Rei slowly closed in on the guy. Looking closely, the guy with the knife had his hair dyed with mismatching colors. Both his ears and his mouth were pierced with different set of earrings. The 'traditional delinquent' title suited the guy the best. As for Rei, they couldn't clearly see his face since its being hidden by his hood.

_Finally―_

"I know it's not good to pry unto other people's business… But, you should stop right at that point.

Murder comes with a price, you know?"

The knife-holding guy was taken aback, but soon acted haughty when he realized that Rei wasn't holding any weapon. The other two noticed that and jeered, as if realizing that they got the upper hand.

The force of one kick jostled the man onto his belly. His mauled body crashed to the ground. His upper body exploded with ever more pain than before.

With a triumphant smile full of ecstasy, the knife-holding guy clumsily pointed the dangerous blade towards Rei.

"I don't remember taking orders from you. Drop dead somewhere else, brat."

"Oh? Can't understand some easy logic? Got a screw lose or something?"

"Haaaah!? You've got a big mouth there! Hey, I think we should teach this champion of justice a _little_ lesson."

All three of them guffaw gleefully.

"Heh. So much for the cowardice. So, a weakling need to team up with other weaklings just to beat other people up? Pathetic."

Rei expected for this outcome, that's why a devious smile floated on his face. _This is it! This is what I'm looking for!_

The grin was displayed for the three to see. Rei actually expressed himself solely for that reason. In other words, his plan was not to stop nor let the bastards go in the first place, it was to taunt them. His objective from the start was clear: _To beat the shit out of them._

The other two hesitated a bit, but as soon as Rei removed his hands from his pockets, their hesitation turned into confidence. Both of them took out their desired weapons, the first readied a metal stick, the second prepared his tweezers. The knife-holding guy nodded to the other two, as if telling some sort of a code.

They slowly cut off the distance between them and Rei, as if preparing to surround and launch a pincer attack on three different sides.

"Oh my, aren't we energetic?"

As soon as Rei finished his sentence, the guy with the metal stick dashed towards him and swing his weapon on where Rei's head was currently staying. With leaning his body backwards, the stick brushed past through his nose. At the same time, both of the knife-holder and the tweezers guy went their way to attack the over-confident opponent.

_Hey, they have a good coordination for a random thugs._

The tweezers guy on his right side moved slightly faster than the other one. Rei noticed the fact and took advantage of that. Using the back of his left hand, the thrust of the tweezers guy had been redirected to the place on where the attack of the knife-holding guy will arrive. Without breaking a sweat, Rei sweeps the legs of knife-holder by lowering his stance, taking away the knife holder's balance.

Having lost control because of the residual inertia, the tweezers made contact with the knife-holder's wrist inevitably. Soon, his mouth floated with some foam and the smell of urine permeates through the midnight air.

The guy with the tweezers was dumbfounded and took a full blow to the solar plexus. The force of impact made him fly several meters away.

"Fucker!"

The delinquent with the stick immediately recovered from this surprising turn of events and made a fast roundhouse kick. Rei evaded it and threw the same move against the delinquent, but it was skillfully blocked by the guy by crossing his arms.

"Not bad."

Rei honestly complimented the delinquent. As for a normal thug, one would not be able to block a surprise offensive kick like that.

"You little…!"

The tweezers guy helped himself up and threw something at Rei. It flew at a speed similar to a baseball, but Rei dodged it by nimbly shifting the weight of his upper body to the left. The guy with the stick didn't miss this chance. He hastily stomped his foot at full force, deciding to slam his large shoulders on the small frame of Rei's.

A large grin flashed out again on Rei face, telling the guy that he expected the attack. Using his left foot as the pivot point, Rei rotated his body to the side, evading the charge of the delinquent. Rei did not stop there. Using the torque he made by dodging, Rei connected his right elbow on the guy's back. The guy landed his face directly onto the concrete wall.

The impact was so intense, since the Rei's attack was the combination of his built-up momentum and the opponent's driving force. The delinquent didn't expect the counter, resulting to the loss of his consciousness.

"Hiiiiii!"

Regaining his weapon, the tweezers guy panicked and clumsily swung the toy on his hand without coordinating an attack similar to earlier.

Rei dodged all of the incoming hostilities and disarmed the opponent by hitting his arm with a right hook.

"Damn you―!"

The delinquent tried to retaliate by throwing a normal, weak punch. This was, of course, answered by a cross-counter to the middle of the delinquent's face. With his eyes white, the tweezers guy was finally down for good.

_Too quick. I overestimated them, I guess…_

Having his expectations betrayed, Rei decided to approach the beaten man but he noticed that the leader of the thugs had recovered from his extreme electrification.

Slowly, he decided to conclude this night's buffet.

()()()

"…Guhh."

That was the only noise the guy could make as he woke up from a phenomenon that seemed like a dream.

The knife he had made from scratch could not be found on his hands, rather, that delinquent had his whole body invaded with numbness. He picked himself up and sit on the spot. No, he can't even properly move his legs. Moving the muscles of his fingers little by little, he tried to grasp what's on his hand; the brandished improvised cutter.

He looked for his two friends who was always hanging out with him and immediately found on what they called as their remains several meters from him. He could not believe himself. The sight was too much for him to handle.

One had his nose broken and was extremely bleeding. The other one, whose only talent was fighting, had collapsed near a wall. Also, massive amount of blood were sticking through the wall.

An absurd scene.

"You've g-got to be kidding me…!"

*step* *step*

The sound of footsteps invaded his ears as he looked at the direction of the sound. What he saw was a grin that could be compared to an Asura.

Suddenly, he remembered what he was doing a while ago.

A guy they beat up several weeks ago showed up with another four looking thugs. They could easily realize that he's on for a revenge. After that, they begin the fighting against the other group.

The match was too one sided.

The recruited thugs run with their tails between their legs, leaving behind the idiotic man who desired for vengeance.

They beat him up casually. And, to make him remember not to mess with them again, he tried to give the man a wound or two, or just maybe, dispose of him entirely.

Then, for some reason, a hooded man suddenly appeared. He get taunted by him, lost his cool and went for the attack. Soon after, he lost consciousness.

They messed up. _Pathetically._

"…Ah. W-What the hell… did you do to my friends!?"

As for this man who was confident about his fighting prowess, he never considered that the man standing in front of him was the sole suspect for what he could see as carnage. He averted his eyes on that possibility, deceiving himself that there are other people out there who secretly engaged his friends while he was unconscious.

The knife-holding delinquent forced his body to move. By biting his lips, he entered his usual stance of brandishing his knife against an opponent. He tried to dash towards the man but staggered unto the cold concrete he was laying earlier.

"Fucker!"

The delinquent tap his knee in order to set his senses straight.

"I'll kill you―!"

Before he could express his anger completely, a savage kick to the face shut him up. The taste of iron spread though his mouth, as he felt that one of his tooth flew out. As for the piercing on his mouth, it ruptured his lips as it contributed to the amount of blood entering his mouth.

"Guh! You―!?"

The guy raised his body and pushed him onto the wall. His face caught every punch unreserved, as if the concept of pity wasn't on the attacker's dictionary. Seeping the delinquent's morale and energy, tears mixed with blood run down through his cheeks. His fighting spirit had long been burnt out, the delinquent wished he had not wake up his body's sense of feeling. The searing pain that had been clawing through his entire being amplified.

"Aaah… Gaahh… Ple…ase… Sto…p…"

He could only plead for his life with a creaking voice.

()()()

Rei continued reward the man for his haughtiness, as he abstain from stopping himself from plummeting the face of the delinquent. He had no intention to kill the guy or whatsoever. What he desired was _something_ else.

"Wha…"

The man whose was nearly killed earlier was stunned by this scenery.

"Mo… Monster!"

Rei stopped his movements and hold the collar of the delinquent with his left hand. He glared at him, as if saying that if he move, he would be the next in line. Of course, Rei didn't intended that kind of reason. What he merely did was to look on the man's eyes.

Little that he knew of what the face he was making right now.

A face devoid of emotion, yet had a large grin on his face.

The man perceived him as a monster, which Rei, of course, already knew.

_I was already aware of that fact._

_I've been this way because of them, you know?_

_It's just, it can't be helped, yeah?_

Checking the delinquent's condition, Rei surveyed that he would soon lose his consciousness. He decided to help him get to the dream world but was stopped by a rugged voice.

"That's enough, alright?"

A silhouette approached him slowly from where he originally belonged.

_The situation is way too similar, though the position are reversed._

The man saw Rei as the one who was in the wrong, and him as the person who was righteous.

_Silly me…_

The shadow hiding the man's face gradually lessen, and finally, it was exposed with the help of the luminescence of the moon.

_This guy… I've seen him before._

"Are you gonna stop what you're doing, or I'll stop you with everything that I've got?"

Dropping what's on his hand to the ground, Rei stared at Saijou Leonhart silently while the delinquent's consciousness fades away to oblivion.

* * *

**Finally, a fight scene. Please continue to support my work by leaving a review behind. Actually, I'm still not contented about the way I write on third person POV. Next update will be next month. Thanks for reading up to this point.**


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